The United Kingdom is preparing to host an international summit on generative AI in education in 2026, signalling growing government commitment to a sector that analysts expect to more than double in value within the next five years.
The UK’s Department for Education confirmed the summit alongside £45 million in new funding to improve digital connectivity across English schools, £1 million to accelerate AI-powered marking and feedback tools, and £3 million to build AI training datasets for educational applications. The moves form part of a broader push by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to position AI as a tool for reducing teacher workload and improving pupil outcomes.
Market projections paint a bullish picture.
The UK education technology market generated approximately $14.8 billion in revenue in 2024 and is projected to reach $31.2 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of around 13%, according to research from Grand View Research. The K-12 segment — covering primary and secondary education — accounted for nearly half of total market value in 2024, with revenues of $3.9 billion.
The numbers arrive at a time of shifting dynamics in EdTech investment. UK EdTech funding totalled approximately $222 million in 2024, a notable decline from $547 million the prior year, according to data tracked by techUK. The cooling reflects a broader pullback in venture capital across the technology sector, though analysts note that the underlying demand drivers remain intact: rising teacher workload pressures, growing parental demand for digital learning tools, and government policy actively encouraging AI adoption in schools.
Pearson signals confidence in AI-driven education.
Pearson PLC (LON: PSON), the UK’s largest publicly traded education company, reported 4% underlying revenue growth for 2025 across all five business units, with virtual learning sales climbing 8%. CEO Omar Abbosh cited advancing the use of AI “to improve learning and upskilling” as a strategic priority, projecting mid-single-digit compound annual sales growth going forward. Pearson’s full-year results are expected on February 27, 2026.
The government’s investment signals have particular significance for the K-12 video and digital resource segment. While Pearson dominates at scale, a growing category of specialist UK-based platforms is expanding rapidly by targeting specific curriculum gaps that larger publishers have been slower to address.
Specialist content providers fill the curriculum gap.
LearningMole, a UK educational platform founded by Michelle Connolly, a former primary school teacher with over 15 years of classroom experience, has built a library of more than 3,300 curriculum-aligned resources and an audience exceeding 260,000 YouTube subscribers. The platform focuses specifically on producing video resources mapped to the UK National Curriculum for primary-aged children — a segment where teacher demand for ready-made, quality-assured digital content continues to outstrip supply.
“Teachers need resources that actually match what they’re required to teach, not generic content that requires hours of adaptation,” said Michelle Connolly, founder of LearningMole. “The gap between what’s available and what classrooms need is where platforms like ours grow.”
LearningMole’s model — subscription-based access to curriculum-aligned video resources and teaching materials — reflects a broader trend in UK EdTech toward content platforms that combine specialist subject knowledge with digital delivery. The approach sits at the intersection of two policy priorities: reducing teacher planning time and improving access to quality resources across schools regardless of budget.
The platform’s growth trajectory mirrors wider patterns in the UK’s online education market, which IBISWorld values at £5.0 billion in 2026. Within that market, the subscription-based video resource category has shown particular resilience, driven by schools seeking cost-effective alternatives to purchasing individual resource packs and by parents increasingly investing in supplementary learning materials for home use.
Policy tailwinds are stacking up.
Beyond direct funding, the UK government’s TechFirst programme has committed £187 million to digital skills training, including teacher AI literacy. The Department for Education is also collaborating with the Incubator for AI (i.AI) to test AI tutoring tools aimed at supporting up to 450,000 children on free school meals — a programme that, if successful, could create substantial new demand for quality-assured digital content from providers across the sector.
BETT 2026, the UK’s flagship education technology exhibition held in January at ExCeL London, reinforced the direction of travel. AI dominated the agenda, with Education Secretary Phillipson using a keynote address to outline expanded EdTech trials and new safety standards. Google confirmed a collaboration with the University of Oxford around its Gemini for Education platform, while Microsoft showcased Copilot integration across its education tools at no additional cost — moves that lower the barriers to AI adoption in schools and create downstream demand for curriculum content that feeds into these systems.
What investors should watch.
For those tracking the EdTech space, the UK market presents a distinct profile: strong government backing with clear policy direction, a mature but fragmented provider landscape, and a K-12 segment where AI adoption is moving from pilot phase to mainstream integration. The upcoming 2026 AI in education summit could provide further clarity on regulatory frameworks and standards that will shape which companies — from Pearson at the top end to specialist curriculum content providers at the growth stage — are best positioned to benefit.
The broader question for the sector is whether the shift from peak venture investment toward government-backed, outcomes-focused growth represents a more sustainable foundation. With Pearson’s results, government funding commitments, and market projections all pointing in the same direction, the UK EdTech sector appears to be transitioning from hype cycle to structural growth.
For a market that attracted 41% of all European EdTech investment pre-pandemic and remains home to over 1,000 EdTech companies, the combination of policy support and genuine classroom demand suggests the sector’s next chapter will be written by companies that can demonstrate measurable impact on teaching and learning outcomes — not just user growth metrics.
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